2016 Social Innovator of the Year

JoeKeefe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Pax World Management LLC.

Joe Keefe is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Pax World Management LLC. In addition to his leadership of Pax World, Keefe is co-chair of the Leadership Group for the Women’s Empowerment Principles, and the former chair of the board of Women Thrive Worldwide, a leading non-profit organization shaping U.S. international assistance and trade policy to help women in developing countries lift themselves out of poverty. Mr. Keefe was named by the Financial Times in 2015 as one of the top 10 Feminist Men in the World, by Ethisphere magazine as one of the “100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics, and in 2014 he was honored at the United Nations as one of five recipients of the Women’s Empowerment Principles Leadership Award.

Under Mr. Keefe’s leadership, Pax World Management has become one of the leading sustainable investment firms, integrating Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors (including a gender lens) into the investment analysis and portfolio construction of all its funds based on the strong belief that companies with diverse leadership teams and better ESG performance can deliver lower risk and greater return. In 2014, Pax World Management launched Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Leadership Fund, the first broad-market index of the highest-rated companies in the world in advancing women's leadership through gender diversity on their boards and senior leadership, now with over $100 million in assets. The Fund outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI World Index, for the two-year period ending June 30, 2016.

UNH’s Center for Social Innovation and Enterprise is honored to recognize Joe Keefe’s lifetime of work in the field of social innovation. His voice has helped change the field to champion both sustainable investing and women’s empowerment, and his influence has been felt across the globe.